Minutes from September 11, 2023

 Attention Members:  You can now reserve the oxalic acid vaporizer.  Go to this link to get started.

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East Central Iowa Beekeepers Association

Minutes from September 11, 2023

The meeting was called to order by president Joseph Klingelhutz at 6:30.

--New visitors introduced themselves and were welcomed. Joseph pointed out that people are free to attend a meeting to see what it is about and join if they plan to become members. Welcome to our new folks!

--Several members talked about their summer honey harvests, with some getting record amounts.

--Treasurer’s report: Current balance of $1363.89. Jean Stallman is needing to step down as treasurer due to family obligations. We will elect a new treasurer at the December meeting. (late note: James Miller has volunteered to take the position. We will confirm this at the next meeting.)

--Joseph reviewed out current budget, which reads as follows:

$300 For a big item to be used by club members

$200 Honorarium for Honey Princess

$150 Summer Field Day expenses

$250 Johnson County Fair

$400 Honorarium for speakers

$150 Reimbursement for conference attendance

$50 General supplies

Annual total: $1500

Scott Flynn pointed out this budget would require 75 members. Current active membership is around 50. This is an idealized budget subject to annual needs, income and activity. For instance, the big item this year has been donated and we have only paid $100 in speaker fees.

--Oxalic acid vaporizer. Thanks to an anonymous donor, we have a new OA vaporizer that can be rented at a minimal cost by club members. Rob McCain has graciously offered to make it available from the office at Urban Acres Realty. Details need to be worked out, which will include an online reservation system. Once the plans are finalized, an email will go out to members listing instructions on how to reserve the device. Joseph stressed that members will be responsible for having their own necessary safety gear such as mask, gloves and possibly safety glasses. Users will also need to sign a liability waiver to use the equipment, which can result in potential health risks if not used according to directions.

--Developing a club apiary. Joseph detailed the discussion that continued from the June meeting regarding the development of a club apiary, which would be used for demonstrations, teaching, holding field days and possibly providing some benefits such as available queens or nucs. James Miller had looked into the Johnson County Poor Farm as a possible location. Shaun Webb suggested the adjacent landfill may make the honey from that site undesirable and suggested the Iowa City Waterworks site instead. Again, some form of online communication/calendar system would be developed to keep track of who is doing what at the site. Shaun will look more into this as a possibility. We would hope to have a site selected and ready for the spring. Joseph mentioned there are already supplies and bees which would be donated.

--Holding more meetings. Following up suggestions from the June meeting, Joseph led a discussion of the possibility of modifying our current meeting calendar, which includes quarterly meetings in March, June, September and December on the second Monday of the month. The past two years, we have combined a field day and meeting in June on a Saturday to more members can attend. After discussion, the calendar for next year will be modified to have meetings in February, April and September, with a June meeting/field day date to be determined. This schedule would conform more appropriately to the beekeeping calendar. Having a club apiary would also provider more opportunity for members to meet and share ideas.

--Iowa Honey Producers Field Day. James Miller attended and gave a brief summary of the events and speakers. He was impressed with the idea of the AZ Slovenian hives, which are set into the side of a building and the beekeepers works the hives from inside the small building. An inspector from Illinois spoke about his longtime experience working with beekeepers and all the funny things he encountered, all the things people do wrong. He said a lot can be learned just by watching your bees in and around the hive. Andy Joseph, state apiarist, talked about overwintering success which was better than usual, with relatively lower incidence of nosema (bee gut disease). He spoke about the buildup of environmental toxins in the beeswax and the importance of culling out some frames annually to reduce the amount of toxin in the hive. He also talked about how to diagnose colony death. Jason Foley, the Russian bee guy and president of IHPA, talked about queen rearing. Tom Long mentioned he has some Russians from Foley and they have done well and not aggressive. The IHPA annual conference will be November 10 and 11 in Ames.

- -Overwintering colonies. James talked about his system for overwintering. He eliminates an upper entrance and places a box on top of the colony that has hardware cloth stapled on the bottom. Above that he places fondant or a candy board so the bees have access to the food. Above that is a foil-covered piece of insulation and on top of that is a piece of stiff styrofoam. No inner cover is used and the regular hive cover goes on top. James feels this allows moisture to accumulate and run down the sides of the hive which can be used by the bees to soften the candy board and prevents moisture from raining down on top of the bees which can be deadly. He can lift the insulation up to do a quick check on the candy board and bee activity without bothering bees too much. James doesn’t usually wrap hives but stressed the importance of having some form of wind protection. Snow and ice should be removed from the entrance and there is a tool that can be purchased for removing dead bees on the bottom board.

Mites: if you haven’t done so yet, check for mites. It’s a little late for Apiguard and formic pro because these can shut the queen down and you want her rearing fall brood. Apivar, not an organic treatment, and OA vapor are probably the best options for treatment of mites at this time, James said.

Check for food stores. Now that honey supers are removed, it’s critical to monitor food honey supply in the colony. Brood should be moved to the lower level and sugar or syrup provided to build up the winter supply. A 2 to 1 ratio of sugar to water should be used in the fall.

Thanks to all for coming. We hope to see you at the next meeting, December 11^th.

Submitted 9/12/2023 by Jim Davis

http://eastcentraliowabeekeepers.blogspot.com

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